


Lightning Strike

by 0bviousLeigh



Series: Yuma is a Girl [36]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Body Horror, Card Games, Gender or Sex Swap, Other, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 02:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13204215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Yuma meets Mizael and is instantly horrified. Monsters are real, in this world.





	Lightning Strike

Yuma runs as fast as she can, but she can’t seem to get anywhere. The landscape never changes, and the shadow behind her never gets further away. She trips and falls, and tries to crawl on her hands and knees, but it’s no use. A roar sounds behind her and she turns to see Astral being thrown to the ground. She gets a look at the thing that attacked him, making out the shape of something huge and terrifying before the ground under her opens up and she goes falling into a deep pit.

Yuma wakes with a start, her heart racing. She’s soaked in sweat and the blankets feel like they’re crushing her. She flings them off and rips her shirt over her head. The cold air hits her bare skin and she shivers. Yuma trips her way out of bed and out of her pants, careening into the bathroom mostly naked and heading straight for the shower. Her teeth are chattering, and it take a few minutes under the hot water for that to stop.

The dreams where she can’t escape a threat are the worst, and this is the third one she’s had this week. She touches the pendant around her neck—Astral is going through the Numbers they collected after the tournament and trying to piece together the fragments of his memories. She would ask him to come out and comfort her, but what he’s trying to do is important, and Yuma doesn’t want to bother him.

Yuma makes it out of the shower and into her school uniform. She puts herself together enough to get to school, and she pastes a smile on her face for her friends. The day is painful—she’s tired, and stressed because of the Barians, and she’s just really glad that spring break is coming up so she can sleep for days on end. Her friends don’t ask her what’s troubling her, so either she’s a better actor than she thought or they just know.

When Yuma gets home, a letter is waiting for her. It’s from her grandma’s friend, the old man she met in the mountains, and there are cards in it. The old Duel Master says he’s gone on a retreat, but he hopes Yuma can use the cards he’s enclosed to battle the incoming threat.

“Great,” Yuma says with a sigh, “Even he thinks I’m not prepared enough.”

At dinner, Yuma leaves food behind, shocking both her sister and grandma, but she’s too tired to eat. She collapses in her bed before the sun has fully set, and she’s asleep within seconds.

 

 

Bright light is not how Yuma was looking to wake up, but it’s how she does wake up. She burrows into her pillow with a groan.

“Up, up!” Kotori cries, grabbing Yuma’s blankets and flinging them aside.

“No,” Yuma growls.

Kotori laughs and pounces on Yuma. “We’re going hiking!”

Yuma lifts her head and glares at Kotori. “Why?”

“Because you’re in a funk and you need to snap out of it,” Kotori says. “Mountain air will do you some good.”

Kotori rolls Yuma out of bed and, reluctantly, Yuma gets herself dressed. On the way out the door she grabs her deck. She hopes she won’t need it, but who can be sure of anything in this day and age. Lillybot has prepared lunch and Kotori already bought train tickets, in an hour’s time the two of them are setting off on the mountain trails, Kotori in the lead.

“Look at that bird!” Kotori cries, pointing out a songbird in a nearby tree.

The bird lets out a chirp and flies towards them, landing on the ground at Kotori’s feet. Kotori reaches into the picnic bag and takes out a cracker, which she crumbles to dust for the bird to pick at.

Yuma smiles and snaps a picture. Maybe this was a good idea, after all.

As the day progresses, Yuma’s mood improves. The sunlight feels amazing, and the fresh air does make her feel better. She and Kotori leave the well-traveled trails and venture off into the trees, where they happen upon a small stream of fresh water. They kick off their shoes and wade into the water to cool off.

“Look,” Yuma cries, “A salamander!”

Kotori flees from the amphibian, and Yuma has a little fun by pretending to scoop it up and chases Kotori, only to splash her with a handful of water.

“Meanie!” Kotori accuses.

Yuma sticks her tongue out, and a splash fight ensues. When the two of them are soaked through, they leave the river and lie on the bank in the sun to dry off and eat lunch.

“Thanks for bringing me here,” Yuma says. “You were right, I did need this.”

Kotori grins at her. “You know I’m here for you, whatever you need. We all are.”

Yuma takes Kotori’s hand and gives it a squeeze. “I do know that. Thank you.”

 

* * *

 

Ryoga tilts his head back and groans. Why, oh why did Rio decide that she needed to go bra shopping right now, when Yuma isn’t around? Yuma could have gone and made sure Rio would be okay, rather than Ryoga having to go and wait outside because he couldn’t go in a lingerie store on principal. When Rio finally comes out, he’s relieved.

“About time,” he says as Rio jogs over. “What took so long?”

“What’s with that tone?” Rio asks with a pout. Suddenly she gasps and drops her shopping bags.

“Rio?!” Ryoga cries.

Rio’s face is perfectly blank, but her voice is urgent as she says, “They’re coming…coming to take what’s most precious…the dragon of ill-omen!”

Ryoga puts his hands on Rio’s shoulder. “Oh man,” he mutters. “This has to be a Barian thing.”

 

* * *

 

Once the sun starts go down, they decide to make their way back to the trails. It’s a perfectly ordinary walk, until a red ball of light shoots through the trees and smacks into Kotori.

“WHAT IN FRESH HELL?!” Yuma screams as Kotori goes flying away from her.

“So it’s you,” says a voice from behind Yuma, and she spins around. A young man stands on a tree limb, staring down at her. For a second, Yuma wonders if he’s related to the Arclights—he has ridiculous hair and a smug expression on his face.

“Who the fuck are you and what have you done to my friend?!” Yuma screams.

The boy doesn’t answer, but throws something into the air that sends red light from it. The light surrounds Yuma, and she gasps.

“This is like at the Carnival finals!”

Sure enough, the light forms a red sphere that envelops the space around Yuma. Gravity goes funky and she floats upwards. The boy materializes within the sphere.

“Who are you?” Yuma snarls.

“My name is Mizael,” the boy says. “And I’m the last duelist you’ll ever face.”

“You think an awful lot of yourself,” Yuma says coldly. “You must be a Barian.”

“Are you afraid?” Mizael asks.

“You wish,” Yuma says. “I’m mad as hell! You’ve got some nerve…attacking Kotori, interrupting my day!”

“Do you accept my duel?” Mizael asks.

“What makes you think I even have my deck?” Yuma asks sarcastically. “Are you stalking me? I have enough boyfriends, I don’t need you adding to the men in my life. I accept your duel, because as it turns out I do have my deck.” She activates her duel disk. “The first turn is mine!” She draws a card, and Astral appears by her side.

“What’s happening?” He asks.

Mizael laughs. “So you finally showed yourself, Astral.”

“He can see me?” Astral murmurs.

“DON’T YOU DARE TALK TO ASTRAL!” Yuma screeches. She turns to her boyfriend, “He’s a Barian, so be careful. I’ll do my best to protect you.” And on her first turn, she manages to summon Hope. Then she plays one of the cards that the old man gave her, which protects Hope’s overlay units.

But Mizael laughs. “You are so utterly predictable,” he says. He starts his turn and summons his own monsters, which he uses to build the overlay network.

“I summon Numbers 107!” Mizael screams.

Yuma’s jaw drops. What did he say? 107?! But Astral said there were 100 Numbers! Yuma glances at Astral, but he looks just as gobsmacked.

“Show yourself and guide me to victory!” Mizael cries, “Galaxy Eyes Tachyon Dragon!”

Yuma claps her hands over her mouth. Did he say…Galaxy Eyes?!

The monster appears before Yuma, and she feels sick to her stomach. That figure, it can’t be the one from her dream…can it?

 

* * *

 

Kotori falls to her knees. Numbers 107? What on earth can this mean? If Astral’s memories only had 100 pieces, then where did the Numbers going beyond 100 come from? Was Astral mistaken? Or is this something beyond his control?

The roar of an engine pierces the stunned silence and Kotori whirls around in time to see Ryoga’s motorcycle careening up the path. It stops feet from Kotori, and she almost sobs in relief.

“Ryoga, Rio, thank god you’re here!”

Rio leaps off the bike and runs to Kotori. “Are you okay? What’s happening?”

Kotori points to the sphere field. “N-Numbers, 107, more than 100! Yuma’s in there!” she’s shaking and her teeth are chattering.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Rio says, putting her arm around Kotori. She looks at Ryoga. “I think she’s going into shock, and her clothes are damp.”

Ryoga shrugs off his jacket and hands it to Rio without taking his eyes off the sphere field. “This can’t be good,” he says.

 

* * *

 

Mizael smirks at his dragon as it roars above him. “Why are you so impatient? Do you want to attack that badly? Alright, go my beast, attack Hope!”

Yuma has seen Galaxy Eyes battle enough times to know that she needs to do everything she can to keep that attack from landing. So she detaches an overlay unit to end the attack, but Mizael smirks and gets around it with a monster effect.

Tachyon dragon attacks Yuma, and as it lands she’s blown back against the sphere field’s wall. The attack hurts, but the collision with the wall is agony.

Yuma hears screaming, and she knows she’s the one doing the screaming, but she can’t feel her own vocal chords. She can’t feel her mouth open, she can’t see beyond the flickering of red light, the only thing that exists is the pain that extends from the core of her body to the tips of her fingers. The last sphere field she fought in didn’t hurt half this bad.

When the pain ends, Yuma thinks she’s blacked out, and she’s relieved—maybe this will turn out to be a dream. Then she hears Mizael’s voice.

“So weak,” he says. “These humans are so very fragile.”

Yuma wants to tell Mizael to get a fork and stick it in the sphere field, but she can’t make her mouth move.

“I’ll give you the opportunity to surrender,” Mizael says.

That gets Yuma to fight through the pain. “Fuck yourself in the eye socket with a screwdriver,” she snarls as she opens her eyes.

 

* * *

 

Ryoga grits his teeth and digs his nails into his palms so deep that he can feel blood. “I can’t take much more of this,” he snarls, “YOU BARIAN FREAK! DUEL ME, LEAVE YUMA OUT OF THIS!”

“Hold that thought!”

Ryoga turns around in time to see Kite, in full Sailor-Moon mode, fall to the ground like some misplaced action hero. “I’ll continue the duel!” he announces.

“Fuck off,” Ryoga shouts, “I’m going to help my girlfriend!”

“No,” Rio says, her voice reaching that same pitch it did before. Ryoga turns to her.

Rio’s face is blank and her eyes seem to stare at something that only she can see. “They’re calling to each other, Galaxy Eyes to Galaxy Eyes…the two dragons speak to each other.”

Kite stares into the sphere field. “Ryoga, take care of Kotori and your sister,” he says. “This jerk and I have a bone to pick.”

 

* * *

 

Yuma can’t tell what Mizael is staring at. She tries to right herself and pain shoots through her body. Fuck, fuck, fuck did she mess up her back? “I don’t care,” she mutters to herself, “I’m not giving in, I won’t let him have Astral.”

Astral floats beside Yuma and touches her arm gently. “Don’t be like this. You can’t go on.”

A shiver seems to go through the sphere field and Yuma jumps, pain going through her body again. Suddenly, Kite appears next to her.

“The fuck?” She mutters, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for him,” Kite says, nodding towards Mizael. “You two sit out this fight.”

“No!” Yuma cries, feeling some fight come back to her, “You have Hart! Kite this field, it’s terrible, your brother needs you!” She can feel tears coming, she’s in so much pain but she flails and grabs hold of Kite. “Get out of here,” she begs, “I can do this!” She feels utterly pathetic. She’s crying, pleading in front of this Barian. She was caught so off guard by all this, now she’s a wreck.

Kite gingerly maneuvers Yuma upright. “Take it easy,” he says quietly. “It’s not just me who’s itching for this fight. My Galaxy Eyes wants to battle this guy, and I know better than to argue with a dragon.” He tucks a strand of Yuma’s hair back and wipes the tears from her cheeks. “You can do this, but so can I, and it’s my turn now.”

Yuma slumps over and Astral catches her.

“Finally finished with that loser?” Mizael asks.

“Shut your filthy mouth when you talk about Yuma,” Kite spits.

Yuma would laugh if she wasn’t seeing stars every time she closed her eyes.

“I set a card and end my turn,” Mizael says.

Yuma struggles to focus on the duel. She clings to Astral, his physical presence is about the only thing keeping her grounded, and she’s not sure what she’s seeing is real. As Kite’s Galaxy-Eyes appears, she wonders…is she really seeing beams of light from the dragons as they roar at each other?

“Amazing,” Astral murmurs. “Those dragons have torn apart the ground outside the sphere.”

“Kotori!” Yuma gasps.

“Is safe with Ryoga and Rio,” Astral says.

Yuma didn’t even know Ryoga and Rio were there.

“There can only be one Galaxy Eyes master,” Kite snarls, “And that’s me!”

“That’s where you’re wrong!” Mizael says.

Yuma rolls her eyes. “Oh great. This is a pissing match.”

“Huh?” Astral asks.

“Never mind,” Yuma sighs. “I hate boys.”

The duel moves too fast for Yuma to follow. She screams when Mizael destroys Photon Dragon, but Kite brings the monster back from the graveyard. Then he summons Neo Galaxy Eyes, and Yuma can feel the energy in the air as the monster emerges. Lights and explosions ensue, and Yuma has a full-on migraine now. Her head feels like it’s splitting open, she curls into a ball, clutching it, and she knows Kite has destroyed Tachyon dragon, but she also knows it’s not the end.

Mizael summons his dragon back, and then says that he’s going to fight with all he’s got. Yuma manages to open her eyes as Mizael is swallowed by light, and then his body transforms.

It’s like when Faker was possessed by the Barian, but worse, because Mizael isn’t a huge, messed-up version of a human being. Mizael retains a humanoid figure, with arms, legs, feet, and hands, but he’s not human at all. He’s beautiful, like a marble sculpture, and he may in fact be made of stone—his whole body is golden, and gems emerge from it. He has eyes, but no face to speak of. No nose, no mouth, but he seems to have a broken, white mask covering part of his head. His eyes are framed in red, and black lines skitter down the side of the mask. Are they cracks? Are they veins? Yuma doesn’t know. He’s beautiful, but monstrous. He’s horrifying.

Yuma screams. She’s not the only one screaming though, she can’t be, because she’s never let out a sound this loud, this shrill, this terrified before. It must be someone else, it can’t _just_ be her fear echoing around the sphere.

“Yuma, stop!” Astral cries.

The screaming cuts off as Yuma takes a ragged breath. Then the world goes dark.

 

 

Yuma opens her eyes and she sees helicopter blades. Her head throbs with pain, like a heartbeat coming from within her skull. Kotori is standing over her.

“Akari’s on her way,” Kotori says.

Yuma feels like she’s about to puke. “The Key…” she mutters.

Kotori takes Yuma’s hand and presses it over the Key. “Astral is in it.”

Yuma blinks and ends up just…closing her eyes.

 

 

Yuma opens her eyes and closes them immediately against the light.

“Ow, ow, fuck,” she mutters.

“Language,” Akari says crossly.

“Yuma-san’s awake!” Takashi shouts tearfully.

“Fuuuuck,” Yuma whines, trying to cover her ears. “Sound, ouch!”

“Even a concussion can’t keep her from cursing,” Akari says.

Concussion? But Yuma didn’t hit her head, she was electrocuted. Holy shit, she was electrocuted! The sphere field, the duel, the creature!

She opens her eyes wide and gasps, grabbing for anything she can get her hands on—she knows she grabs Akari’s arm, and she sinks her nails into it. “He was a monster,” she gasps, “Akari, there was no, no mouth, just eyes and rock and how did he breath? How does he eat? How can it survive like that Akari I’m scared it’s not fucking real how can any of it have been real?!”

Akari turns her head. “Nurse, please!” She looks back at Yuma. “It was a dream, honey. You went hiking and there was some kind of earthquake or rock slide or something, you and Ryoga fell but you’re going to be okay, you’re in the hospital now.”

Yuma pulls herself upright. “It wasn’t a dream!” She screams. Pain shoots through her head and she squints. Her friends are standing against the wall, looking tearful and horrified. Yuma locks her eyes on Kotori. “You saw!” Yuma yells at her, “I’m not crazy!”

Kotori presses a finger to her lips and shakes her head. It takes a second for Yuma to remember that the adults in the world don’t know she’s fighting a goddamn alien race to protect another alien race. But that’s the case, isn’t it? Yuma’s all alone in this knowledge. She slumps back against her pillow and cries. Mizael, holder of Numbers 107 and an alien hell-bent on destroying Yuma, Astral, Astral world, and now Kite as well. Fan-fucking-tastic. Oh, and he’s a monster.

Yuma leans over the side of the bed and pukes. This day can’t get any better.

 

 

The doctors move Yuma out of ICU and into a room—Ryoga’s room. Yuma lies quiet on her bed when her friends come to say hello and give her cards from their classmates. Akari tells Yuma to speak, say thank you, and Yuma turns her back on her sister and closes her eyes.

Rio chases everyone out, saying that Ryoga is resting—resting, not sleeping. When everyone leaves, Rio takes Yuma’s hand and kisses it.

“Sleep,” she says. “Call me when you want to talk.”

Yuma does sleep, but she has nightmares. Every few hours she wakes up in a cold sweat or screaming, or sometimes both. Ryoga comforts her at first, but soon he gets mad at her.

“Fear is unbecoming on you,” he snaps at Yuma when she flicks the light on, flooding the room with soft golden light. When did the sun go down? She blinks at the clock—it’s 3 AM, the witching hour. Yuma claps a hand to her mouth as nausea overwhelms her.

“Don’t you dare,” Ryoga threatens. “God, what’s the matter with you? One duel with a Barian and you go to pieces? I thought you were going to kick their asses if they stepped foot on this planet. I thought you were going to single handedly defend Hart and Astral. What happened to you?”

Yuma launches herself from the bed and wraps her hands around Ryoga’s throat. “Shut up,” she hisses. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She’s shaking, not even hurting him.

“What happened to you?” Ryoga asks again, this time sounding less judgmental and more genuinely concerned.

Yuma shivers. “I was wrong,” she says. She falls to her knees as her legs give out.

Ryoga kneels beside her and gathers her into his arms. “Wrong about what?” He asks.

Yuma doesn’t answer, can’t answer. She just cries until she passes out again.

 

 

 

Kite comes to visit. Yuma is in the process of picking at her food, and when he enters the room Kite takes one look at her and scoffs. “You look terrible,” he says.

Yuma grabs her entire tray of food and throws it at him. She misses, but she thinks she gets the point across.

“Yuma, what the hell?!” Ryoga sputters.

Yuma gets out of bed and pushes Kite, hard. “You, you think you’re so…you can stand there and say shit to me like…like you didn’t see…what the hell is wrong with you?!”

Kite clearly doesn’t understand. Ryoga doesn’t either. Yuma stalks to Ryoga’s bed and grabs his phone. As she dials Rio’s number she clutches the Key, where Astral still lies dormant. She wishes he was with her.

“What’s up, bro?” Rio asks.

“It’s me,” Yuma says. “Can you come here? I’m ready to talk.”

Rio promises to come, and Yuma hangs up. She goes back to her bed and sits, her knees pulled up to her chest.

“Should I leave?” Kite asks, still in that same even tone.

“No,” Yuma snaps. “Stay there and don’t fucking speak to me. Or look at me. I hate you.”

Kite has the audacity to roll his eyes. If Ryoga didn’t launch himself at her and physically restrain her, Yuma thinks she might strangle Kite.

That’s how Rio finds them when she arrives—Kite with his back to the opposite wall while Ryoga holds Yuma by the shoulders as she fumes. Rio isn’t alone, she’s brought Kotori with her.

Rio sits on Yuma’s bed and takes her hands. “Yuma, what’s wrong?” she asks.

And if anyone could look a monster in the eyes and survive, it’s Rio. Yuma wilts, all anger leaving her. She takes a deep breath. “Rio, I see that…that thing every time I close my eyes. M-Mizael…” she can barely force his name from her mouth, “That thing he turned into, it was a Barian. It was horrifying.” Her voice breaks. “Didn’t you see it?”

“Vaguely,” Rio says, “It wasn’t easy to see through the sphere field.”

Yuma presses her hands over her face. “It…he…he was…” She chokes. She takes a deep, shaky breath. “All this time I never thought about what Barians might look like…”

“Is that what this is about?!” Kite cries, incredulous. “Yuma, you’re dating an alien!”

“NO!” Yuma shrieks. “Astral is…he looks human enough! He has…Mizael didn’t…he didn’t have a face!” She can feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. “No mouth, no nose…how did he breathe?! How did he talk? It doesn’t make sense, he had, his body, he looked like stone!” Tears spill down her cheeks. “And Rio, he wants to take Astral from me! He wants to hurt me and I don’t know how…how to stop him!” She digs her nails into her face. “Humans have blood, and bone, and weak skin, humans break, Astral is invisible most of the time, he’s never wanted to hurt me, I’ve never had to protect myself from him. Even with Tron, Tron was human! IV was human! Even if their power was in their cards I could still protect myself if I had to, I could hurt them, make them let go of me if they touched me. Mizael, the Barians, what do they have?! I don’t know!” She laughs, hysterical. “Would he bleed if I scratched him?! Would it hurt him if I punched him?! What if he touches me and I can’t get away from him?! He said that humans are weak, he knows he’s stronger than me…” she doubles over, head in her hands.

Rio tugs Yuma up and hugs her. Yuma can feel Rio’s body shaking.

“Monsters are real,” Yuma says through chattering teeth. “And he wasn’t…he wasn’t a hideous thing with warts or fangs. He wasn’t like a…a drawing on a card, or a Jim Henson puppet, or a CGI thing that came out of a cocoon. He was real, and I couldn’t have imagined him, because he was as beautiful as he was horrifying. I don’t know how to explain it! He shouldn’t have existed, it’s impossible, there’s no way, but I can’t have imagined him, I would never have been able to imagine something being afraid and, I mean making me afraid and yet I thought he was…beautiful, somehow…”

“Awe,” Rio says. “The feeling one gets when overwhelmed by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful.”

Yuma nods. “Yes,” she says quietly. “It’s disgusting.” She sobs. “I hate it. I never want to feel it again, I never want to see one again!”

Rio pats Yuma’s back. “Oh honey. I know, I know. I mean, I know Thomas isn’t an alien, but as terrifying as he was, he was…aesthetically pleasing.”

Yuma wipes her cheeks. “I can’t handle this.”

“Probably not,” Rio agrees. “But you know who can handle it? Astral.”

Yuma’s heart constricts. “That’s not fair,” she says.

“But it’s true,” Rio replies. “Astral can handle it. And right now, Astral needs you. Now I’m right here with you, so are Ryoga and Kite. We’ll do our best to be with you, physically and spiritually until the Barians are no longer a threat, but unfortunately it looks like, for now, if you want to keep Astral safe, you’re going to have to face the Barians again.”

“And those sphere fields,” Yuma mutters, wrapping her arms around her chest.

“I might be able to help with that,” Kite says.

Yuma frowns at him. “I’m still mad at you,” she says crossly. “You got into a damn dragon fight while I was having a panic attack.”

“My dragon fight saved you from having to duel Mizael,” Kite says. “Anyway, Orbital was able to analyze the sphere field, I may be able to create something to help minimize the physical effects it can have on the human body.”

“Can you make me a weapon, too?” Yuma asks.

“Like you need one,” Ryoga says. He smirks. “The Barians must not be that smart, if their main line of attack is cards.”

For the first time in days, Yuma giggles because something’s funny, not because she’s seconds away from an attack of hysterics.

Ryoga sits next to Yuma and puts his arm around her. “That’s better,” he says, kissing Yuma’s cheek. “I missed your smile. Don’t let the Barians take that away from you.”

Kotori climbs onto the bed and hugs Yuma, too. “I still have the taser,” she says. “Maybe it wouldn’t disable a Barian completely, but I bet it would still hurt.”

Kite kneels in front of Yuma. “I’ll see if I can make you something to defend yourself with,” he says.

And Yuma feels safe, in that moment, for the first time since she saw Mizael. She’s not alone in this, she’s got friends backing her up. And to make the moment more perfect, Astral materializes.

“You’re back!” Yuma cries as Astral floats in front of her, looking confused but unharmed. “Are you okay?”

Astral looks down at his own body. “It would appear so.” He looks at Yuma. “But we’re in a hospital, no you’re in a hospital…are you okay?”

Yuma looks at her friends and smiles. “You know, ten minutes ago I would have said no. But now…I think I will be.”

Astral hovers closer to Yuma. “We have a lot to talk about,” he says.

Yuma nods. “Yes. After we go home and eat. And I need to shower, I’ve been very unhygienic.”

“Yeah I can tell,” Kite mumbles.

Yuma shrieks, grabs her pillow, and flings it right into Kite’s face. She hits him, but for some reason he laughs at her anyway. Oh well, she’ll get him for that later.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for not updating last week. As you can see, this story is not...very happy, and I wanted nothing to do with it at the time. You may or may not know this but I'm a K-Pop fan, and just before Christmas we lost a member of the group SHINee, the group that got me into K-Pop, to suicide. It was hard, it was unexpected, and I am still, I think, in shock over it. I haven't written much since, this was pre-written, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.
> 
> As horrid as this part was, I'm happy with it. I think the show glossed over Mizael's appearance too much. I think it would have been horrifying for a young child like Yuma, who's already been through so much.


End file.
